Vehicles require upkeep and maintenance. One example of such maintenance is the frequent activity of uncovering and covering a boat or automobile, such as before and after use. Generally, covers must be sized such that they are larger than the structure they are designed to cover. This allows the cover to be more easily put on a vehicle. After the cover is added to a boat or other vehicle, support must be given to the cover so that it does not have slack or otherwise have slumps where water could build up and pool. The cover must also be given shape so that the water runs towards and off the sides of the vehicle.
Current methods of adding tension, support and/or shape to a cover, for example on a boat, rely on tent poles that must be installed under the cover. This is usually done after the cover is partially attached. Subsequent movement of the cover, such as by wind or trailer movement, can cause the poles to become dislodged. Once a single pole has been dislodged or lost, the cover will not perform its job. As a result, water can collect on the cover and lead to stretching, deformed appearance, damage, leaks or reduction of the useful life of the cover, and also water entering the area for which protection is desired.
In order to install support poles, someone must go inside the boat or vehicle and under the cover. Therefore, the person installing the support poles must crawl around, in the dark, trying to set up the poles without disturbing the poles that are already set up. Further, the poles must be stored somewhere when the boat is in use, potentially on the boat, causing less room on the boat and potentially a tripping hazard.
The boating industry includes many recreational users. Recreational users may choose to leave such covers off entirely so as to avoid the frustration, discomfort and time required to set up support poles under the cover. This results in accelerated wear and damage to the boat.
Many covers are used for a specific type of boat, model and even different sizes and configurations of a single model. For example, the interior space of pontoon boat can be changed based upon the desires of the owner and/or the intended use. In some configurations, the pontoon boat may have seating that rises above the fence or rail of the pontoon boat. In other configurations there may be no such seating. A cover that would fit the pontoon boat without seating typically would not be able to sufficiently fit a pontoon boat with such seating. Further, if the cover for a boat with seating was used with a pontoon boat without seating, it would be larger than necessary and the cover would form depressions or pockets where water would sit and pool.
The current use of making and selling a large number of covers requires manufacturers to make a large number of different covers, a retailer to stock a large number of covers and a boat owner to get a new cover if he or she gets a new boat or even if he or she changes the configuration of boat. These inefficiencies add expense to the cost of covers such as by an increase in the number of manufacturing lines and in shelf space dedicated to covers or warehouse space.
As such, there is a need for a cover that does not require a support pole or other such unstable structure to provide support and is easy to install on a vehicle. There is also a need to be able to use a single cover for a number of different sizes and configurations of a model, different models or even different types of vehicles.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that one or more aspects of this invention can meet certain objectives, while one or more other aspects can lead to certain other objectives. Other objects, features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in this summary and descriptions of the disclosed embodiment, and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such objects, features, benefits and advantages will be apparent from the above as taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom.